The Times of India

Despite various measures taken by the agriculture department to safeguard maize from invasive fall armyworm, which has been raised in districts including Trichy, Perambalur and Ariyalur, the officials have spotted prevalence of the worm in some areas. Maize is cultivated on about 3.5 lakh hectares in Tamil Nadu. The agriculture department has commenced mass ground spraying of pesticides in the affected areas. Fall Armyworm had caused extensive damage to the crop last year as the pest spread rapidly within a short period and caused damage despite various control measures.

Money Control

It’s back to the roots for Amit Sinha, the former Paytm Mall chief operating officer. Sinha, who quit Paytm Mall three months ago, is pushing big for Unnati, an agri-tech startup aimed at helping farmers improve productivity, and plans to raise $6-8 million in a Series A funding round. He wants to offer agricultural loans to farmers at nominal rates, a move aimed at turning Unnati, which loosely translates to progress, into a one-stop solution for all farming needs.

India Today

If we talk about Punjab, a state which has a 20% share of in the annual paddy production of India and 40% in wheat production in India. The problem occurs when the 11 million ton of rice production leaves behind 21 million ton of straw out of which 75% is burnt by the farmers due to lack of any proper crop residue management in the country. The much-awaited solution to this lethal problem has finally been discovered by a team of Mechanical Engineering students of Chandigarh University i.e. a ‘Multi-purpose Crop Residue Manager’. It is an economical approach to get rid of stubble burning and its consequences.